


Gods and Monsters

by Seeingredfics



Category: IT (2017), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Crossover, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 15:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12750810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seeingredfics/pseuds/Seeingredfics
Summary: [stranger things / it crossover]her voice had been in his head for as long as he could remember, and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t seem to understand what she was saying to him. and then one night he did, and everything turned upside down.





	1. Prologue

Hopper was late, as usual. He pulled on his winter jacket as he tiredly wandered out of the kitchen and towards the couch, where El was sat. She had been watching cartoons all morning, silently mouthing the words and staring with a blank expression. Hopper sighed from behind her, noticing her stoic position, and wondered if he was doing the right thing by keeping her here. 

Deep down, he wanted more than anything to let her out of the tiny wooden shack, out into the real world and to see her friends again. To see Mike again. He had heard from Joyce, who had heard from Will, that Mike was getting worse day by day. He was quieter, more prone to acting out now his emotions were on an all time high. He wasn’t the same fun loving, D&D playing boy Hopper had to put up with last year, not even close. He was like the shell of his older self, sulking around and barely talking. And it was Hopper’s fault. Well, it sort of was, he couldn’t take the full blame. Hawkins Lab took the majority of it, for everything they did to Eleven and the boys. 

Hopper was just making sure everyone stayed safe, that everyone was okay. Especially her, she was his number one priority now. His only one, in fact. So when he saw her sad expression when she came out of her room after seeing Mike on day 351, he pushed his feelings about the matter aside and acted like everything was okay. Like he wasn’t hiding away the one thing Mike needed the most right now. 

“I’m off, kid.” Hopper said after a moment of silence. El turned her head, her curly hair falling around her forehead. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yes.” She said quietly. Hopper nodded, then paused.

“Did you see him again?”

“Mike?” El asked, her voice softening slightly as she said his name. Hopper licked his lips and shook his head. 

“No, the other one.” He said, zipping his jacket up and putting his hat on. “The one you keep seeing in your dreams.”

“Yes.” El said again, just as softly. “I saw him.”

“Did he say anything?” Hopper asked out of curiosity. Ever since Eleven mentioned seeing someone in her dreams, a boy only a year older or so than her, Hopper had been very curious about him. He was short apparently, only just a little taller than Eleven was, with neat brown hair, hazel eyes, and freckles over his nose. He was scared, he was scared a lot of the time, and his voice was shaky and ragged, like he could barely breath. El once said he had a white rectangle over his arm, and Hopper had to explain to her that it was a cast for a broken arm. 

“It said Lover on it.” She said one night when Hopper was tucking her in. “What does that mean?”

“Means that you love someone a lot.” Hopper said simply, stroking her head. “He must really love somebody.”

“Love.” El had whispered, and the thought hadn’t left her mind all night, even when she saw the boy again. He traced the letters written on his cast, the ‘V’ a blood red whilst the others were scribbled on in black. El cocked her head at him and just stared, wondering why he was here, but she hadn’t been able to actually talk to him yet. She would call out to him, but he could barely here her. His eyes would dart around in fright, as if her voice was an echo in the wind, but that was it. 

“He asked me if I was real.” She said, fidgeting about on the couch. Hopper frowned.

“Do you think he’s real?”

“Don’t know. I think so.” She said, unsure of her answer. He seemed real enough to her in her dreams, but maybe he was just a figment of her imagination somehow? Her mind playing tricks on her? They had done it before, so why not now? No. There was something different about the boy, something real. 

“Well, try not to get too attached. In case he isn’t.” Hopper warned, knowing what happened the last time Eleven got herself caught up with a boy. He sighed again and grabbed his pack of cigarettes from the kitchen table. “I’ll see you at dinner, okay?”

“Okay.” El said, and turned her body back to the television, and leaving Hopper alone in the room once again. He wanted to ask if she was okay, if she wanted to talk, but he knew better. Just leave her be, she’ll come to you. 

It was cold outside, and once he stepped over the trip wire and jumped into his truck, he turned the heating all the way up. Hopper rubbed his hands together and quickly started the old truck up, wanting to get to work as soon as possible otherwise Flo would be up his ass about tardiness once again. 

“You’re the Chief, you cannot be late!”

He scoffed to himself, weaving in and out of traffic as he sped down the highway and into Hawkins high street. There weren’t many people about, most of them would be at school or work, but the odd pensioner or couple appeared on the streets. Hopper ignored them, going a little over the speed limit to get to the police station. He could do that, he thought to himself, that was definitely something he could get away with. 

Hopper parked in his spot, and turned the engine off before grumbling to himself once again about the shitty weather as he strolled into the police department’s main office. He could hear Powell and Callahan talking to each other at their desks, as usual, and when he turned the corner he saw them sharing a box of donuts. He scoffed. They were a total cliche if he’d ever seen one. 

“Hopper, it’s about time!” Flo exclaimed, getting up from her seat and folding her arms. “I’ve been on the phone with Earl all morning!”

“The pumpkin farmer?” Hopper groaned. “What’s he blabbering about now?” He shrugged his jacket off but Flo stopped him just as he was about to hang it up on his hook. 

“You might want to put that back on. You need to go to Earl’s farm.” Flo said and Powell and Callahan snickered as Hopper looked physically pained by the idea.

“You can’t give me five minutes inside the building, can you?” Hopper said, glaring at her and Flo just raised her greying eyebrow at him.

“He says its urgent. And trust me, you’re going to want to listen to what he has to say.”

“And what’s that?” Hopper rested his hands on his belt and chewed the inside of his cheek. Flo pushed her glasses up her nose and cleared her throat, as if getting ready for a thank you speech.

“He says that he found a boy there this morning, in the pumpkin field.”

“A boy?” Hopper asked in disbelief. “The Buyers kid?” His mind started to run wild, had Will had an episode? Did Joyce know where he was?

“No, no! Earl doesn’t know where he is or where he’s come from. The boy was just lying in the field, which was filled with rotting pumpkins by the way and Earl isn’t too happy about that either-”

“What’s the kids name?” Hopper asked, throwing his jacket back on, his interest suddenly peaked. Flo wracked her brain and then searched her desk for a piece of paper she had scribbled on as Earl spoke to her at about one hundred miles per hour. 

“Ah, here it is. Uh, Eddie Kaspbrak. That’s what Earl told me.”

“Never heard of a Kaspbrak living in Hawkins.” Powell pointed out and Hopper nodded. He knew everyone in this town, and that name wasn’t on his list.

“Did you get a physical description?”

“Short, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, pale, was wearing shorts and a blue shirt, but Earl had apparently given him his jacket just before he spoke to me. Said the boy was nearly frozen to death. And I’m not surprised, running around in a field with shorts on!”

Hopper wasn’t listening anymore, he was frozen. There was no way it could be him. Eleven had described the boy in her dreams a handful of times, and every time had been pretty much the same.

Short. Brown hair. Hazel eyes. He sometimes wore shorts. He had broken his arm. 

Hopper’s eyes widened.

“Flo! Did he have a cast on?”

Flo frowned at her Chief and put her hands on her hips. “A what?”

“A cast! You know, for when you break a bone, an arm cast!”

“I, I’m not sure. Earl was in a rush-”

“Flo!”

“Hopper!” She argued and he took a step back. Then something clicked in her brain and she tapped her temple. “No, that does sound familiar.” She said, and Hopper spun around to her.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m certain. Earl said the boy had something covering his right arm, it could have been a cast perhaps?”

“That’s good enough for me.” Hopper turned to his boys. “Stay here, I’ll deal with this.”

“You sure, Chief?” Powell asked.

“Yeah, you seem kinda tense.” Callahan pointed out. Hopper zipped his jacket up over his chest and shook his head.

“Trust me, I’ll be fine. Just stay put.” He then rushed out of the police station, hurrying to the truck and starting it the moment he shut the door.

If he was right, and it was the same boy Eleven had been seeing, what did that mean? He was real, certainly. But why had she been seeing him? What did he mean to her? What was his purpose? Who was Eddie Kaspbrak?

As Hopper drove down the road towards Earl’s farm, all these questions filled his mind. But all he could focus on was Eleven, and her safety. Keep her safe. That’s it.

She’s the only thing that matters now. And no kid was going to get in the way of that.


	2. The House on Neibolt Street

The first time he saw her, he was 8 years old.

Eddie didn’t think much of it back then, he was a child with a vivid imagination, it wasn’t a surprise to him that he could see things in his dreams. She was small, smaller than he was, and with short hair buzzed down to her scalp. Even then, he thought she was pretty. His mother had told him that girls with short hairstyles wanted to be like boys, but Eddie didn’t believe her. He thought that was stupid.

The girl didn’t speak to him the first time they met, she just stared at him. He waved to her in the dark place, pitch black, water softly lapping at his toes. It was cold here, it was always cold. But with the girl there, things seemed to shift. The atmosphere felt calmer, the temperature seemed to rise, it was like she was making it better being here. And Eddie wanted to thank her for it.

“My name’s Eddie.” He said in the oh so polite voice he used around his mother. She had trained him well. “What’s yours?” She didn’t reply, just cocked her head to the side. She then looked down at her arm, so skinny and pale and fragile. Eddie looked too, out of curiosity, and saw three numbers near her wrist. He frowned. “Why do you have that? Is it a sticker?” Nothing. “Eleven? What does that mean?” Nothing. “Is that what you’re called?” The girl nodded this time and Eddie smiled. “Okay! Well, would it be alright if I called you that?” The girl shrugged, but that was good enough for him.

They spent the whole night together in Eddie’s dreams, sitting in the water with Eddie rambling on and on about his friends as the girl quietly listened. He talked about someone called Richie a lot, and his friend’s Bill and Stan, and that they were the best people he knew. But Richie was rude sometimes, and cussed out his teachers so he got detention.

“But he’s really smart!” Eddie would say, running his fingertips over the top of the water. “He get’s such good grades, but he’s so bad that the teachers don’t like him very much. Do you go to school?” Eleven didn’t say anything, she just stared at him blankly. “Do you know what school is?” She shook her head. “Would you like me to tell you?” She nodded. And so he did.

When Eddie started to feel himself wake up, coming back to the real world, he felt sad. He liked this time with Eleven, the quiet girl with no actual name who never spoke. It was peaceful, he felt comfortable with her. He wanted to stay there for longer but he knew he had to get up, otherwise his mother would be mad.

“She loves me.” He said sadly. “But she’s mean to me sometimes. She makes me take these pills.”

“Pills?” Eddie jumped at the sound of her voice, soft and gentle. He was beaming at her, but tried to stay calm and not make a big deal out of it. She hadn’t, so why should he?

“You take them when you’re sick, they make you better.”

“Are you sick?” She asked him.

“Ma says so. She makes me stay in the house for days sometimes. My allergies act up.”

“Allergies?”

“It’s when you can’t be around something, because it makes you unwell.” Eddie explained. “I have lots of them. Do you have any?”

“I don’t know.” Eleven said, hanging her head. Eddie frowned, and gently reached out to touch her shoulder, but she flinched away from him. Eddie instantly felt bad, and pulled away.

“Sorry, Ma says I’m too forward sometimes.” Eleven didn’t say anything, but she looked back at up him and gave him the smallest smile. But it still made Eddie’s stomach flip.

He didn’t see her every night, just every once in awhile. He would tell her about school, about his friends, about his family coming from out of town to visit. He told her everything, and she just sat there and listened to him. She was like his own personal therapist that only he knew about. Someone he could tell all of his problems too and no one else would need to know. He loved his time with Eleven more than anything, so it hurt a lot more than he expected when she went away.

He didn’t know why she left him, but one night he just couldn’t find her. He called out for her, yelling her name over and over again, but nothing happened. No one came to find him, no one said his name back. Nothing. And that’s when Eddie’s dream world started to become a nightmare.

He started seeing other things in there too, things he could never explain to anyone else. When he was 12, he saw slug like creatures slithering about at his feet in the water, and he screamed so loud he woke himself up. He woke his mother up too, and she hadn’t been happy with him, but he still didn’t tell her what happened. She’d send him to the nut house if she found out about Eleven, about the slugs, the dream world…the monster.

He was 11 when he first saw it, and he never forgot it.

Eddie was trying to look for her again, he had tried to find her for over a year now and still nothing, but he couldn’t give up. He needed to find his friend, what if she was in trouble? What if she was hurt?

“Eleven?” He called out, running through the water in his trainers and ignoring the water splashing at his exposed legs. His mother told him to stop wearing his shorts now that it was getting cold, but he remembered that Eleven had once complimented them, saying that she liked the red, and Eddie tried to wear them for her as much as he could. They made her smile, and he liked seeing her smile. “Eleven? It’s me! Where are you? Where are you!” He called and called, but nothing happened. Eddie stopped running after a while, just standing there shivering in the cold. He wrapped his arms around himself and felt his eyes brimming with tears.

Why did she leave him? He thought she liked him, he thought they were friends.

“Eleven?” Eddie tried again, his voice shaking from the struggle to not start crying. But he still got nothing. Then he heard the growls. His head snapped up, and he glanced around, trying to see if he had imagined it or not, but then he heard it again. It was low and far away, but Eddie still heard it. And he felt his feet move towards it, forcing him to confront whatever was with him in the dark. The monster was hunched over, growling and gurgling and it sounded like it was eating something. Eddie’s breath was ragged, and he reached for his fanny pack, wanting to use his inhaler, when he remembered he didn’t have it. He had nothing to help him, protect him. Not even Eleven; he really was alone.

His steps were short, quiet, as he approached the monster. It had broad shoulders and long legs, like a human man, but it was dark green and slimy, it’s muscles rippling under its skin and making Eddie feel like he was going to vomit. He wanted to run away, to wake up, to forget, but he couldn’t. His body wouldn’t let him, like it wanted him to see this thing. He felt his arm reach out before he could stop himself, and when his trembling fingers made contact with the unpleasant skin of the monsters back, he screamed. The thing turned around, it’s face long and curving in at the end like a snout. It had no eyes, no nose, no facial features. But then it snarled, and it’s face bloomed like a flower in spring, opening up and showing off its rows and rows of teeth to Eddie. He screamed, and then he woke up.

He didn’t visit the dark world for four years after that, his dreams were dark and full of nothing, like his brain switched off completely. But he was happy. He didn’t see the monster anymore, he was safe. But because he never went back, because he never saw Eleven again, he slowly started to forget. He had more important things to think about, school, his medication, his friends, IT. His mind made him forget about the girl with no hair and no name in the place filled with nothing. He forgot about the blood that would trickle down from her nose sometimes, the small smile she gave him when he chattered on about Richie, the feeling of comfort and safety he had with her. He forgot everything, as if it never existed. Then he faced off with IT, they all did, and he broke his arm. That’s when he went back to the dark world.

It was a month after Beverly left, and the Losers had all been trying to carry on without her. It was hard at first, but eventually they received letters from her, telling them all about Portland her Aunt, about how she missed them all. Eddie missed her too, a lot. She had been kind to him, always giving him a smile and a shoulder to cry on when he needed it. He just wanted them all to be together again, like they were supposed to be. They were stronger together, they had defeated IT together.

He went to sleep pretty easily after a day with Bill and Stan and Mike, they had all been to Mike’s farm to help him with chores, having nothing else to do that day, and they had been wiped out the moment they got home. Eddie’s mother had for once not commented on the hay in his hair, or the fact his allergies would play up. Because he had no allergies, not anymore.

Eddie rolled over in his bed, propping his cast up against the pillow so he wouldn’t accidentally sleep on it, and closed his eyes, letting his aching body finally get some rest. He opened his eyes again only moments later, but instead of seeing his room, he saw the darkness. Eddie looked down and saw the water lapping at his feet gently. He felt an odd sensation in his chest, as if something was pressing on it, and he felt like he didn’t know where he was, but knew exactly where he was at the same time. He blinked, trying to wake himself up, but the sound of a voice whispering to him from the darkness made him freeze.

“You came back.”

Eddie turned, expecting to see someone behind him. But there was no one there.

“Hello?” He called out, his voice piercing the darkness like a knife and making him jump. It was quiet here, way too quiet. Almost silent. He could hear his heart hammering in his chest, and it was making him want his inhaler. But he threw it away when he went to Neibolt, he had thrown everything away that day.

“You came back.”

The voice said again, and Eddie spun around on his heels, desperately trying to find someone.

“Who are you?” He called out. The voice was soft, gentle, a girl’s voice. She sounded far away, but he could hear every word as if she were right beside him.

“Where am I? What is this place?”

“Upside Down.”

The voice replied and Eddie gulped. “Upside Down? W-what does that mean?”

“Bad place. Bad place.”

“Tell me who you are!” Eddie demanded, storming around trying to see anything, a figure, a shadow, anything. But he was still all alone, and it was making his chest hurt.

“Friend.”

“Friend? Do I know you?” He asked, stopping suddenly. “Beverly?”

“No.”

Eddie nodded slowly. “Okay. You’re not Beverly. Do you have a name?”

“El.”

“El? I…I don’t know an El. How can I be friends with you if I don’t know you?” Eddie waited for a response, but for a long while nothing happened. And then he heard the laughing. His entire body felt like it had been frozen, icy chills ran up his spine and all the hairs on his arms stood up. The tears in his eyes started to brim again, and Eddie begged himself to wake up. “There’s no way.” He whispered to himself, closing his eyes and squeezing his hands into tiny fists. “No way. No way.”

“Eddie.” The voice sang, and Eddie remembered running through the grass at Neibolt Street, the feeling of total terror coursing through his veins as he stopped at the fence and turned, seeing the triangle of red balloons. And the clown behind it. “Dontcha recognise me?” Eddie slowly opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder, and his breath hitched. The clown was standing a few feet away, grinning at him, and holding a bright red balloon with the words ‘I LOVE DERRY’ on it. Eddie felt the world around him crumble.

“You’re not real.” He breathed, the clown smiling at his words. “You’re dead.”

“But I’m right as rain, Eds!” It said, cocking it’s huge head to the side. “I can dance, see!” It lifted it’s gangly legs and started doing a jig, making Eddie feel like he was going to throw up. Pennywise spun around and made jazz hands, cackling with laughter as Eddie stood completely still. A single tear ran down Eddie’s freckled cheek.

“You can’t be real.” He whimpered and the clown’s face shifted into something dark. Something twisted.

“You don’t believe in me?” IT growled and Eddie let out a strangled noise as it took a step towards him. “Don’t you wanna believe in me, Eds?”

“No!” Eddie shrieked, moving backwards as fast as he could. “Stay away!”

“Come join me, Eds, we all float down here!” Pennywise cackled before lunging at him. Eddie screamed, and tumbled to the ground, his face in the water. He waited to feel it’s claws piercing his skin, cutting him open and making him bleed. But nothing happened, instead, he felt a cold breeze wash over him, as if someone opened a door leading outside.

Eddie struggled to breath, but looked up to see a pair of trainers in front of his face. He jumped, his eyes ghosting upwards to see a boy looking down at him with a scared expression. That’s when Eddie realised he wasn’t in the dark place anymore. He was somewhere else. A bedroom, or at least he thought it was a bedroom. It had a bed, and a desk, and posters lining the walls, but it was dark, cold, and black vines ran along the walls.

“Who are you?” The boy asked, and Eddie quickly stood up, backing himself into a corner and shaking.

“Who are you?” Eddie replied and the boy swallowed harshly.

“You’re…you’re in my room.” He whispered. “How did you get into my room?”

“Your room?” Eddie whispered, and looked around. The boy, who was even smaller than he was, nodded, his straight brown hair fluttering across his face. He was pale, Eddie realised, with large eyes and shaking hands. He looked terrified.

“My name’s Will.” The boy said and took a tentative step forward, noticing Eddie stiffen as he moved. “I won’t hurt you. I’m scared too.”

“What is this place?” Eddie asked, his voice squeaky and shaking. Puffs of hot air came from his mouth, as if it were winter and he was playing in the snow outside. Why was it so cold?

“Hawkins, Indiana. Well, kind of. This version is called the Upside Down.” Will said gently. “It’s…it’s like our world, but different.”

“Upside Down…” Eddie moved away from the wall slightly. “That’s what she called it.”

“She?” Will frowned.

“The voice. I heard…a girl’s voice. She said her name was-”

“Eleven?” Will’s face suddenly lit up and Eddie frowned. Why did that sound familiar?

“You know her? She’s real?” Eddie asked and Will nodded.

“My friends, they knew her before she disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” Eddie choked, not liking the sound of that at all. “What-”

“Ssh!” Will suddenly hushed him and Eddie froze, staring at him.

“What is it?” Eddie whispered, and Will turned to his bedroom window. Both boys watched in horror as red flashes in the pitch black sky appeared, lighting up the bedroom with an eery glow. Eddie felt his body tense up again, like it did when he heard Pennywise, and he followed Will to stand at the window, neither being able to believe what they were seeing.

“What’s happening out there?” Eddie asked, and Will shook his head.

“I don’t know. But I’ve seen it before.” He said quietly, and Eddie stared as lightning seemed to strike the sky, flashes and crackles appearing like fireworks. Then something happened that made Eddie’s blood run cold. A dark, black mass consumed the sky, and both boys nearly screamed as the mass started to grow legs, like a spider, and turned to face them. Eddie could see it didn’t have any eyes, but it was looking right at him and he backed away from the window.

“What the fuck is that?!” He cried as Will stood there, unable to move. “Will!” The boy didn’t say anything, and Eddie just crumpled to the floor. He put his face in his hands and rocked back and forth as an ear piercing shriek came from outside. It was the monster, it was angry.

“Wake up, Eddie!” He sobbed into the palm of his hand. “WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” He screamed, and Will turned in shock to feel the entire house shake. It felt like an earthquake, and he hurriedly ducked under his bed and covered his ears as Eddie screamed louder than he ever had before. The windows shattered, shards of glass flying across the room, and Eddie squeezed his eyes shut as a ball of energy seemed to explode from inside him, forcing him to wake up.

When he did, he realised the windows hadn’t shattered in Will’s room, they had shattered in is.

When his mother ran in seconds later, yelling at Eddie and dragging him out of the glass filled bed, checking his body for scratches and blood, all Eddie could think of was the monster. The shape in the sky. The feeling he felt in that place. The Upside Down. He couldn’t shake it, even when his mother forced him to shower as she cleaned his room up.

He just stood under the water and thought about Will, IT, the girl’s voice, the shattered window. Everything.

And then he realised what he had to do, and scrambled out of the shower as fast as he could, drying his body as quickly as he could before yanking the clothes his mother had put out for him on. His hair was still wet from the shower, water trickling down his face and under his shirt, but he didn’t care. He stormed out of the bathroom, ignoring his mother’s confused shouts, and marched into his room to grab his flashlight, and then ran out of the house without looking back once. He almost didn’t see Richie and the others across the road as he grabbed his bike from the end of the driveway.

“Hey, Eds!” Richie beamed, waving at him as Eddie looked over. “We’re going to the arcade, bet I can beat you at Street Fighter again!” Stan and Bill rolled their eyes as Ben and Mike laughed. Then they noticed the look on Eddie’s face, and they stopped.

“Eddie?” Ben asked, the group following him over the road as Eddie watched them with wild eyes. The others took in his expression, so determined and angry, but about what? “Are you okay?”

“I don’t have time for arcade games.” Eddie said and started to walk his bike down the street. His friends looked at each other before Bill hurried after him.

“I-i-is everything okay?” He asked, jogging to keep up with Eddie’s pace. Eddie didn’t look at him.

“I’m fine, Bill. Go have fun.”

“Eds! Come on, dude!” Richie called, running over and standing in front of Eddie’s bike, blocking his path. “What’s up?”

“Richie, get out of my way!” Eddie demanded, but Richie shook his head as the boys gathered round them.

“What’s with you? Did something happen?” Richie frowned.

“You’re shaking.” Stan said and Eddie glared at each of them.

“Would you just leave me alone! All of you!” He shouted, making them all jump. “I have to do something, just…get out of my way!” Eddie elbowed himself past Richie and hopped onto his bike, pedaling off before the others could say anything to try and stop him. They all stared as he rode off down the street, and Mike shook his head.

“Where is he going?” He asked, and the others watched in shock as Eddie turned left instead of right. They all knew what street that was.

“Neibolt?” Richie choked. “Why the fuck is he going there?”

“Maybe he saw…you know.” Ben suggested and Stan gulped.

“That’s impossible! We killed IT!” He squeaked out, looking at Bill for reassurance. “Right, Bill?” Bill stared down the street with a deep frown and nodded his head.

“Yeah. We did.” So why was Eddie going there?

The wind whipped his hair across his forehead, but Eddie kept pedaling anyway. He had to get to Neibolt, he had to see the well again. He had too.

“He’s dead, he’s dead!” He said to himself as he skidded to a halt in front of the house, staring up at it and taking in it’s broken down appearance. He had passed by this house many times going home, but this time was the only time he wasn’t scared of it. He shoved the bike to the ground and hurried up to the door, shoving it open and stepping over the pieces of broken wood nailed to the front of it. “He’s dead.” He said again, and moved towards the stairs leading to the basement. It was just as cold and just as dark as he remembered, and thankfully, the rope was still there; leading into the well that Henry Bowers had fallen down. Just how they left it.

“Dead.” He whispered, and then grabbed the rope. It was just as difficult to get down as last time, even with his arm slowly starting to get better. He would have the cast off next week, the doctor had said, and Eddie couldn’t wait. But for now he had it, and it made everything ten times more difficult than it needed to be. Eddie winced when he felt his arm nudge against the rope a little harder than expected, but he carried on slowly clambering down until he felt his foot touch the ledge leading into the sewer tunnels. He braced himself before swinging his legs out and standing on the ground, slowly lowering his body into the tunnel and collapsing to his knees, thankful that he didn’t fall into the abyss below him. Who knows where it even went, it seemed to go on forever. Maybe Henry was still down there.

Eddie shook his head, getting rid of any other thought than the one that had made him hurry here in the first place, and pressed forward. He switched the flashlight on and shone it down to the left, his mind slowly taking him back to the first time he came down here with the others. When they saved Beverly. He ran as fast as he could through the tunnels, not wanting to waste anymore time thinking, and splashed through the shitty water that he had once been so afraid of, now it was nothing to him.

He made it to the room where they found Stanley lying on the ground, Pennywise over him with sharp teeth and blood trickling down his face, and stopped as he heard voices. Eddie turned, pointing the flashlight down the tunnel he had just gone through, and froze when he heard someone familiar calling his name.

“Eddie? Eddie, just stop, please!” Richie. Eddie groaned and ran away just as torch lights started to fill the tunnels behind him. He moved as quickly as he could through the water until he got to the large open room, Pennywise’s lair, and scanned it for the well. It was more of a hole, Eddie remembered, a hole in the ground that Pennywise had fallen into. But it was the last place he had seen him. If Pennywise was really still around, he’d be there. He had to be. Eddie carefully moved towards it, finally finding it in the darkness, and tried to keep his breathing steady as he approached it. It was bigger than he remembered, and he felt his fingers begin to shake the closer he got. Scenes from the last time he was here flashed through his head, and he shivered. He hated it down here, but he had to be sure. He had to be sure Pennywise was dead.

The voices of the others were in the background as Eddie leaned over the hole, staring down into the darkness. He shone his torch down, but the tunnel seemed to go on forever and he couldn’t see anything, no matter how hard he concentrated.

From behind him, Richie and Mike tumbled out of the tunnels, covered in grey water and panting for air. “Eddie!?” Richie yelled before gasping at the sight of his friend leaning a little too far over the hole in the ground. “Eddie, don’t!” Richie shrieked, his mind thinking of the worst thing that could happen, and he propelled himself forward. The others followed behind him, stumbling over each other and trying to follow Richie through the darkness.

“Get away from it!” Ben cried as Eddie looked over his shoulder at them.

“Why did you follow me?” Eddie snapped, facing his friends and glaring at them. Richie shook his head.

“Because you’re coming into the fucking place on your own?” He said, as if it were obvious, which it absolutely was. “What the hell are you even doing?!”

“I had to make sure IT was dead!” Eddie yelled, staring at Richie with fire in his eyes. “I had too!”

“B-buh-but we know it’s dead.” Bill said, stepping forward. “We saw it f-f-fall.”

“I saw IT.” Eddie said harshly. “I saw IT, Bill! He was there right in front of me! Taunting me, telling me to float!”

“Where?” Ben asked with a gasp.

“In my dream. The dark place.”

“The what?” Mike asked, frowning and Eddie looked away.

“If you dreamt it, then that’s exactly what you saw! A dream, Eds. He’s gone.” Richie said, reaching out to Eddie, only to have his hand slapped away.

“He was real, Richie! He was fucking real! And so was Will!”

“Who’s Will?” Stan asked and Eddie wanted to bite his tongue.

“This…this boy I saw. I was in his room, in some place called Hawkins…Indiana.”

“Indiana?” Ben whispered. “Eddie, that’s across the country.”

“I know! But I was there! And there was this thing in the fucking sky, it was huge! I can’t…I can’t..” Eddie realised his breathing was starting to go, and he choked out a cough, alerting the others. “Can’t…can’t breathe!”

“Eddie, yes you can!” Mike said, reaching out and wanting to grab his shoulders, but Eddie stepped back, his legs hitting the side of the hole.

“You don’t have asthma, remember!” Richie said moving in front of Eddie with a scared expression. “You’re okay, you just need to calm down!”

“I can’t fucking calm down!” Eddie screamed, clutching at his throat, dropping his flashlight, not taking notice of it hitting the edge of the hole and falling down into the darkness. “Oh god!” Eddie tried to take another step back, and the others yelled at him, but it was too late. Eddie felt his stomach drop as his legs stumbled over the edge of the hole, sending him falling backwards into nothingness.

“EDDIE!” Richie screamed at the top of his lungs, hurrying to the hole and staring in horror as his friend disappeared from view, the last thing the group of boys hearing was Eddie screaming Richie’s name back.

We all float down here. We all float in Hawkins, Eds.


	3. Interrogation

Hopper arrived at Earl’s farm not even fifteen minutes after Flo had told him about the boy. He had recklessly driven across town to get there as quick as he could, because if this boy turned out to be who he thought he could be, everything was about to change.

So many questions were running through Hopper’s head as his truck tires screeched down the dirt road leading to the farm, the pumpkin sign to his right as he neared the house. What did he say to the kid? How did he move forward? Did he tell Eleven? He shook his head and parked up behind Earl’s old cadillac, and jumped out of the truck to be greeted by the old man himself.

“You got here just in time, Chief.” Earl said, his rifle resting over his arm. “Poor kid was about to have an asthma attack.”

“Where is he?” Hopper asked, and Earl nodded towards the house, a mansion compared to the rest of the houses in Hawkins. Hopper let the old man lead him inside, kicking off any mud onto the outside mat before stepping in and looking around. It was warm inside, warmer than usual, and Hopper reckoned Earl’s wife, Lilith, had cranked up the heating for the kid. No wonder, Hopper said as he was led into the living room and spotted a small boy wrapped in blankets and shaking like a leaf. Flo was right, he had been wearing shorts.

“Son?” Earl said softly, and the boy’s head peeked out from the blanket. “This is the Chief of police, maybe he can help you out?” The boy didn’t say anything, but his eyes flickered towards Hopper, who just nodded at him politely.

“Can you give us a minute, Earl?” Hopper said quietly, and the old man shrugged.

“Whatever you say, Boss.” He said, and trudged away into the kitchen to do whatever it was Earl did around here. Hopper waited until the door shut before turning back to face the boy. He hadn’t moved, and Hopper could see he was bouncing his knee up and down. He was probably terrified, he looked it, but why?

“My name’s Jim Hopper.” He said, and carefully walked over to the arm chair directly opposite the kid. At this angle he could see the boy’s face, and he couldn’t help but stare in shock, realising it was absolutely filthy. It was covered in dirt and his hair even had some leaves in it; he looked like he’d been rolling around in the forest. Hopper looked him in the eye. “I’m part of Hawkins PD. I was told your name was Eddie, is that correct?”

The kid didn’t say anything for awhile, before slowly nodding his head. “Yes.”

“Do you have a number I can call, Eddie? Your Mom’s?”

“Don’t know it.” He choked out, and Hopper frowned. He sounded a little bit like Joyce Byers son. He kinda looked like him too, just with shorter, darker hair and a far off look in his eyes.

“Where do you live, kid?” Hopper asked.

“Derry, Maine.” Eddie said automatically. Hopper paused.

“Maine? How did you get here from Maine?”

“Fell.” Eddie whispered, and something in his face shifted. Hopper felt a chill run down his spine.

“You…fell?” He repeated but Eddie didn’t say anything, so he tried something else. “How did you end up in Earl’s field?”

Eddie went still, and Hopper noticed something completely change in the kids attitude, as if he was embarrassed all of a sudden.

“You wouldn’t believe me.” Eddie said, looking at his fingers. And that’s when Hopper knew this was real, this was the kid that Eleven had been seeing. He was real.

“Try me.” Hopper said, leaning forward and giving Eddie a confident look. Eddie scanned Hopper’s face, wondering if the guy was trying to trick him, or start laughing, but he didn’t. Eddie blinked.

“There’s a hole.” Eddie mumbled and Hopper had to lean closer in order to hear him. “In the field, there’s a hole in the ground. That’s where I came from.”

“Underground? Were you locked up somewhere? A bunker?” Hopper rattled off a few possible theories but Eddie shook his head to all of them.

“No, no bunker. I…I…” Eddie stumbled with his words, not knowing how to explain himself. He glanced at the Chief before gulping.

“It’s okay, kid.” Hopper said gently. “Take your time.” Eddie closed his eyes, picturing what had happened, and it all flooded back. Hopper watched as the kid shuddered underneath the blanket, his face twisting and wincing every few seconds as if he were in pain. He desperately wanted to see inside his head, see what he was thinking, but he didn’t have to, because Eddie was already opening his mouth to speak.

***

He had never felt so cold, even in Derry’s freezing winter’s every year. This was something new, something unnatural, and Eddie sat up the moment his eyes opened. His body was throbbing, as if he had hit the ground hard, and he looked down to see that he was lying on something soft. Soil? He saw vines and branches twist around him, lying beside his shaking body as he slowly adjusted to the darkness and realised that it wasn’t dark at all.

Everything was blue, a dark, deep blue. Like the ocean. Eddie gaped, staring at tiny white specks floating in the air, and automatically his hand flew to his mouth to cover it. Spores? Dust? Whatever it was, he refused to breath it in.

Eddie tried to stand up, wincing slightly as his ankle burnt when he pressed his weight onto it. That’s when he remembered the fall. He looked up, seeing blackness above him, and wondered what kind of dream this was. It had to be a dream, it couldn’t be reality. If it had been, he’d be dead, he fell down a hole in the ground for christ sake. Then Eddie froze, his knees shaking and almost buckling under the realisation.

Maybe he was dead. Maybe this was the afterlife. Cold, dark, lonely, painful. Eddie bit back a heart wrenching sob. The others, Richie, Bill, Ben, Stan, Mike. Where were they? He nervously took his hand away, gulping as his throat felt dry and scratchy.

“Guys?!” He called out, his voice making him jump as it bounced off the walls around him. More branches and vines were tangled in whatever it was this place was made out of, and Eddie tried not to let his curiosity get the better of him and touch anything. God knows if anything here was poisonous. Wherever here was. He shivered and wrapped his arms around his middle as his breath came out in clumps of white air. His teeth chattered and he took a step forward, feeling his sneaker squelch into the ground. He tried not to gag. “Richie? Bill?” He called out again, his voice travelling down the tunnel that was in front of him. Eddie moved forward, wanting to get out of here as soon as he possibly could, and walked down the tunnel, following a small speck of light in the distance. “Richie?! RICHIE?!” His voice cracked as he tried not to sob again, but it was all becoming too much.

Maybe he really was dead after all.

That meant no Derry, no Mother, no school, no friends, no Beverly…no Richie. Eddie whined and forced his feet to go faster until he was jogging down the tunnel, scanning the area for a way out. It seemed to go on forever, his feet never slowing and his breathing never calming. The tunnel dragged on and on until Eddie felt something brush past his face, making him shriek.

It was a vine hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel, swaying slightly in the cold breeze that was travelling throughout the tunnel. Eddie stared at it and followed it up, before his eyes widened. There was a light above him, it was small, and he had to narrow his eyes to really see it, but it was there.

“Okay, okay.” He whispered to himself before reluctantly reaching out to run his finger along the vine. He grimaced at its wet yet rough texture and recoiled his hand to his chest, swallowing the vomit rising in his throat. “You can do this.” Eddie whispered. He reached out again, his fingers barely grazing the vine, before he heard something. Eddie frowned, and his head slowly turned down the way he had come as he heard it again. It was a low grumble, like a growl, and it made the hairs on his arms stand on end. Eddie blinked, trying to see into the darkness, but he couldn’t. The grumble appeared again and his body started to tremble as he felt a strong breeze hit his body, making his hair fly about his face.

From somewhere deep in the tunnel, even further back from where Eddie had awoken, the growl grew louder, angrier, and Eddie’s widened at the sound of rapid feet hitting the ground. Something was coming towards him, fast, and Eddie choked out into the dirty air. He grabbed the vine, ignoring the way his cast scraped up the side of it, and started to pull himself up, using his feet to brace himself against the wall.

“Just like abseiling.” Eddie whispered to himself, using all of his strength to pull his tiny body up the vine, hoping to god it wouldn’t snap under his weight. The growl was lower this time and he felt it ripple through his body, shaking him to the core. Eddie stopped when the feet grew louder, and he panicked, realising that he had no idea how to actually get out. He stared up at the tiny hole above his head, and braced himself before reaching up with his cast arm, swiping at the hole with his nails. It was soil, wet, fresh, soil, and Eddie almost cried.

His nails tore at the soil with ease, sending it cascading down onto Eddie’s face and even into his mouth, making him cough and splutter. The force of his cough nearly pushed him away from the wall and he flailed for a moment before pressing his feet into the wall and trying to calm himself down.

“Stop being such a pussy!” He said in his best Richie voice, hoping that would spur him on. “If you can kick a demon clown in the goddamn face, you can do anything! Don’t be a fucking pussy, Eds!” It did. Eddie grunted and once again above his head, clawing at the ground and moving his head out of the way so the soil wouldn’t hit him this time. He tried to drown out the footsteps and the growling that were getting closer and closer, and focused on digging the hole above him. He winced as light suddenly shone down through the hole, hitting his face and making Eddie gasp at the sudden fresh air. He gulped it down before grabbing back onto the vine and moving up, his arms shaking and begging to stop, but he refused. He had to get out, whatever was behind him was nearly here.

Thoughts of the clown, thoughts of IT, filled his head and Eddie grunted again. No, you’re trying to scare yourself, he thought as he felt his body start to tilt forward, coming into contact with the ground above him. As the growls below him grew to a mighty roar, Eddie screamed and threw his hand up into the air, blindly grabbing at the cold, wet grass, and pulling himself up. His face and head were smothered in dirt and he could hardly breath as he clambered up through the ground, both hands eventually finding something to hold onto, leaving his feet dangling below him.

Eddie nearly screamed as he felt something brush against his ankle and he yanked his legs up as far as he could as he crawled out onto the patch of grass he had been clinging too. His body was shaking and he was so, so tired, but he kept on going until he felt his feet hit the ground and he rolled his body over so he was far away from the hole. He moved to be on his knees and breathed in and out as slow he could, not wanting to vomit. Eddie suddenly heard the roar again, and he turned as the ground seemed to shift underneath him. He watched in horror, and utter confusion, as the hole he had climbed through seemed to disappear, soil and grass and vines circling their way over the top of it and covering it completely, as if it were never there.

Eddie felt his body go numb as he fainted, barely hearing the worried voice of Earl’s wife calling for her husband to hurry, and bring his gun. But before he passed out, the cold air of Hawkins, Indiana hitting him like a ton of bricks, and the sudden realisation that he still had no idea where his friends were, he breathed out one last word.

“Monster-”

***

Eddie opened his eyes and closed his mouth, chewing at his lip nervously, as Hopper watched him through narrowed eyes. He didn’t know what to say, what to think, how to feel. So he just sat back in the armchair and tapped his mouth.

“How did you get down there?” Hopper asked after a minute of silence. Eddie frowned at him, not sure if he had heard him correctly.

“I…I’m sorry?”

“Underground. How did you end up there?” Hopper repeated patiently.

“You’re not gonna tell me I’m crazy?” Eddie asked, staring at him with wide eyes. Hopper almost felt like smiling. This kid had no clue.

“Nope.” He answered, popping the ‘p’. “I’m more curious as to how you ended up from Maine to Indiana.”

“There’s…a well.” Eddie eventually heard himself say. “It’s in a house, on Neibolt Street. That’s in Derry.” Hopper nodded, wanting him to continue when he paused. “People in Derry said it was haunted, and I guess it was.” Eddie looked away. “I went there, to the well, and I went to the sewers-”

“Sewers?” Hopper grimaced slightly.

“Yeah. It’s where the hole in the ground is. The sewers lead all over Derry, it’s everywhere. Like a maze. And I…went looking for it.”

“Why?” Hopper asked. Eddie stiffened, wondering whether to talk about…IT. He swallowed.

“Curious. People said they heard voices coming from it, so I thought I’d look.” Eddie lied and if Hopper saw through it, he didn’t say.

“And then what happened?”

“My friends followed me, they were yelling at me to get away from it, that I’d fall. And I started having an asthma…no, a panic attack and I just-”

“Fell.” Hopper finished with a curt nod and Eddie shrugged.

“That’s all I remember. Then I woke up underground, in whatever that place is.” Hopper rubbed a hand over his face. This was all becoming too real, this kid had been to the Upside Down and he didn’t even know it. After a long, silent pause, Hopper stood from the chair and crossed the room to kneel in front of Eddie, who seemed to move back slightly in shock, not expecting the man to get so close.

“I need you to listen to me, okay?” Hopper said quietly, glancing over at the kitchen door as if waiting for Earl or his family to walk in. “Everything you said, I believe it.”

Eddie’s eyes widened. “You…you do?”

“I do. Now, I need you to answer some questions for me, okay? And I need you to be honest. Trust me, kid.” Hopper warned, eyeing him up. “I’ll know if you’re lying.” Eddie’s mouth slacked slightly and then he nodded quickly. “Okay. Have you ever seen a girl, she’s around your height, dark curly hair? It used to be shaved right down to the scalp.”

Eddie didn’t say anything, and Hopper realised it was because he was thinking, but then something dawned on him and Eddie’s face completely shifted.

“A girl?” Eddie whispered and Hopper nodded. “I…yeah, I dream about her.”

“You dream about her?” Hopper asked, his protective instincts kicking in without him realising. It

made Eddie go red.

“I-I’ve been dreaming of her since I was a kid. A little kid. She didn’t talk much, she just kind of-”

“Stared at you.” Hopper finished for him and Eddie nodded, almost laughing.

“Yeah. She stared at you. I don’t remember her name, though.”

“Eleven.” Hopper said before he could stop himself, but it only seemed to spur Eddie on even more.

“That was it!” He exclaimed, his hand coming out of the blanket to point at Hopper. “I remember…she was nice. Quiet, but nice.”

“And in your dreams, where are you?”

“The Dark Place.” Eddie said. “That’s what I called it when my Mom asked me about it. My therapist, too.”

Hopper looked away. This kid didn’t know what he was getting himself into. “What happened in these dreams of yours? With Eleven?”

“We would just talk. I’d tell her about my life, my friends. She wouldn’t say much back. I didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t understand me or because she didn’t want to talk.” Eddie said, remembering snippets of dreams from his childhood. Her shaved head, her small nods, her sweet smile. Eddie felt himself grinning. “She was the best company I’ve ever had.” Hopper felt himself smiling too.

“Yeah. I hear you.” He said, more to himself than to Eddie.

“Sometimes though…” Eddie’s voice was quieter this time, and Hopper looked up at him, expecting the worst. “There was this…thing, in the Dark Place too.”

“What kind of thing?”

“A monster.” Eddie blinked, remembering the way it’s face opened up, how it screamed. The growls in the tunnel.

“Monster?” Hopper repeated and Eddie shook his head, sinking further into the couch and hiding his face. “Eddie? Don’t do that, I’m still listening.”

“I told you that you wouldn’t believe me.” He mumbled into the blanket and Hopper stood up.

“Kid, you okay to come with me?” He asked, and Eddie raised his head to stare at him.

“Where?”

“To meet someone I think might be able to help you.”

***

Hopper’s truck was warm, and Eddie was grateful as it rumbled down the road leading back into Hawkins. Neither had spoken to each other since they left the farm, and Eddie was shifting about in his seat at the uncomfortable silence between them. He should have asked to go home, back to Maine. He cursed under his breath. Shit, his mother was probably having a fit right now.

But Hopper had explained to him that he knew the girl Eddie had seen, the girl in his dreams. Eleven. He still couldn’t believe she was actually real, all this time he thought she was a figment of his imagination, but Hopper promised him that Eleven was real, alive, and that she had been seeing him too.

“Not much longer, kid.” Hopper sighed, leaning against the window as he lazily drove them through the beginning of town. Eddie just nodded and looked out the window. He saw a few people passing by in the late afternoon, going into coffee shops or coming out of work and hurrying in their cars to get home. The town seemed more lively than Derry, which wasn’t saying much. Derry had always been more of a ghost town than anything, at least Hawkins had some character to it.

As Hopper kept driving, Eddie noticed a bright, neon sign appear up ahead, and he squinted his eyes to try and see it clearer.

ARCADE

He felt his stomach drop. Richie loved going to the arcade. What had happened to him and the others? Were they worried? Were they scared? Had they called the police? Had they jumped in after him? Eddie shuddered at the last one. No way, even Richie wasn’t that dumb.

The arcade was small and nearly deserted from the outside, but as Hopper drove closer Eddie could see crowds of kids standing inside, huddled around the machines and giving away their loose change like it was nothing. Worthless. A few kids were peddling on bikes towards the building and Eddie watched them park up, all four of them laughing at something. One of them, the tallest of the group, flung his head back as he laughed, and as Eddie got a glimpse of his face, he nearly fainted.

“Richie?” Eddie breathed, turning around to press his hands against the window and staring shamelessly at the boy. Curly black hair, full lips, tall and lanky. Richie…how the hell was Richie here?

“Hey, you okay?” Hopper asked, seeing Eddie pressing himself against the door. He was about to say something else, when he heard the sound of the seat belt unclicking and the passenger car door swinging open with a creak. Hopper yelled, but Eddie had already flung himself from the car, landing onto a patch of grass down the road from the arcade with a heavy thud. The truck screeched to a stop as Eddie bolted it back down the street, grinning like mad at Richie who was still laughing. His back was turned to him, but Eddie didn’t care, and ignored the sounds of Hopper screaming at him and threw his arms around Richie’s middle. He pressed his face into his jacket and grinned.

“Oh my god! You’re okay, Rich, you’re okay!” Eddie breathed, tilting his head up to look at him. “God, did you follow me down that hole? You dipshit you could have-” His breath hitched as Richie turned to look down at him. Except, it wasn’t Richie. At least Eddie didn’t think it was him. He wasn’t wearing his glasses, and his freckles weren’t as dark as they normally were. It looked like him, it really did, but there was something…off about him. This wasn’t Richie. Eddie froze as the boy above him stared down into his eyes in shock.

“Uh, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.” He said and Eddie immediately detached himself from the kid’s body, blushing profusely.

“I…I’m so sorry! I thought you were someone-”

“Kid, what the hell were you thinking?!” Hopper’s voice broke the awkward silence and all the kids turned to see him panting as he ran over. “Did you seriously just jump out of a moving truck on the god damn freeway?!”

“Hopper?” Eddie turned to see a small boy blink up at the Chief. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Oh, hey Will. Boys.” Hopper nodded politely at them, trying to catch his breath. “I’m fine. S’just that somebody needs to know when to stay in the truck!”

“I thought I saw-”

“What? Saw what, Eddie?” Hopper interrogated with a glare. Eddie bit his tongue and turned his back on Hopper, looking up at the Richie look a like.

“I’m sorry. I mistook you for someone else. I hope I didn’t scare you too much.” Eddie said politely, taking everyone by surprise. The Richie look alike, along with his two friends; one wearing a baseball cap and the other a bandana, stared at him in shock.

“Uh, it’s cool man. No hard feelings. Just, be careful next time, yeah?” The tall boy said with a slightly uncomfortable smile. Eddie didn’t blame him; he’d be freaked out too if someone had just charged him like that.

“Mike’s right, you can’t be too careful these days.” Eddie turned to look at the smaller boy and he nearly choked on air. Both of them stared at each other with huge eyes and slack jaws.

“Will?” Eddie breathed. Will took a tentative step forward.

“How do you-”

“Kid, we gotta get moving!” Hopper ordered, grabbing Eddie by the shoulder and steering him away from the group of boys. “You kids better go home on time, alright? I’m not having another distressed mother calling me because you goofed off, Wheeler!”

“Understood!” The tall kid, Mike, called after him as Hopper dragged Eddie back to the car with him. Eddie kept staring over his shoulder at the boys, who were staring right back, and didn’t look away until he was back in the passenger seat. Hopper sped off into the night again, leaving the boys alone outside the arcade.

“Okay, what the hell just happened?” Dustin, the baseball cap wearing kid, asked. Mike shrugged.

“I don’t know. That kid really thought he recognised me.”

“Guess there’s someone out there who looks exactly like you, Mike.” Lucas smirked. “And that just makes me uneasy.” Mike smirked back, shoving his shoulder.

“Don’t be such an ass, now come on. We haven’t got long before we need to leave.” Dustin led the way, Lucas hot on his heels. Mike was about to follow them before he realised Will wasn’t beside him, and he turned to him. “Hey, you okay Will?” Will was staring at the road where Hopper’s truck had just been, not being able to believe anything that just happened.

“Yeah.” Will said after a moment. “It’s just-”

“Did you know him? That kid, he knew your name.” Mike pointed out and Will spun around to face him.

“I don’t know.” He lied, walking up to Mike. “Never seen him before in my life.” Mike nodded, unsure whether to drop it or not, before throwing an arm around Will’s shoulder.

“Come on, let’s go see Dustin get his ass kicked, yet again.” Will laughed, as he always did with Mike’s jokes, and allowed his friend to drag him inside. But not before he snuck one last glance out onto the road. He recognised Eddie instantly, he knew exactly who he was. How couldn’t he? But one question burnt into his brain for the rest of the night, even when he tried to fall asleep. How was he here?


	4. Come find me

Stan was the one who grabbed Richie first, yanking him back by his shirt and dragging him as far from the hole in the ground as he could. Richie kicked at him, Richie screamed at him, Richie even hit him. But Stan didn’t let go, not for a second, because if he did was certain Richie would throw himself down into the hole too. Right after-

Stan flinched, glancing at the hole. Right after Eddie.

“Let go of me, fucking let go of me! EDDIE! EDS!” Richie screamed, his hands grabbing at the air and his body twisting towards the hole to try and get to it. He had to see, he had to see if Eddie hit the bottom. Who knows how far it went down? What if it was only a few feet? What if he was okay? “EDDIE!”

“Richie, stop!” Stan yelled, pushing Richie to the ground and pressing his weight onto him so he wouldn’t move, trapping his body with his arms. “I said stop it!”

“Let go of me Stanley, I swear to fuck-” Richie tried to say before Stan glared at him.

“If you go down there you’ll get yourself killed!” He yelled and the other boys around them froze. “Killed, Richie! Do you want to die?! That...that THING went down there! There’s not way in hell I’m letting you go too!”

“EDDIE’S DOWN THERE!” Richie’s throat burnt as he screamed, but it seemed to make Stan stop, and for a split second his arms went limp, but it was enough for Richie to shove him away and rush back over to the hole to lean over it and look down. “Eddie! Eds! Where are you?!”

“Eddie!” Ben found himself yelling, hurrying to Richie’s side and cupping his mouth so his voice would travel better. “Call back if you can hear us, please!” They both went quiet, and a long, deafening silence answered them. Ben staggered backwards into Mike, who just held his shoulders as he stared at the hole. At Richie’s shaking back.

“Bill…” Mike said quietly, glancing at their leader who had been silent the entire time. “What...what do we do?”

Bill was in shock, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, he could only stare. He then slowly swallowed the lump in his throat and forced his legs to move forward, just as Stan stood back up behind him.

“Bill, don’t!” Stan begged but Bill moved to stand beside Richie, staring down into the darkness and letting his breath come out in short, shaking hitches.

“Bill, what do we do?” Mike repeated firmly this time and Bill shook his head.

“I-I-If’s he down t-th-there...how do we g-guh-get him?” Bill found himself saying. 

“The fire department?” Ben suggested, glancing over his shoulder at Mike who nodded.

“He’s right, they...they might have something to-”

“And what if he’s not?” Stan asked, his voice cracking under the pressure. Everyone except for Richie turned to stare at him. “I’m not...look that hole could be miles deep! What if-”

“Shut up.” Everyone frowned as Richie’s voice pierced the air.

“What?” Stan asked, stepping forward.

“I said shut up. Don’t talk like that.” Richie snapped, his head whipping round and Stan nearly stumbled back in shock at the look of pure rage on his face. “We’re getting him out.”

“Ri-”

“I said, we’re getting him the FUCK out!” Richie shouted and stormed past all of them, running towards the door leading back into the sewage tunnels. “Come on, come on!” He called back and the other four had no choice but to follow him, Ben, Stan and Mike tripping over each other in the water to keep up with him. Bill was the last to leave, turning back to the hole in the ground and sniffling.

“Eds...I’m s-s-suh-suh-suh-FUCK.” Bill wiped at his eyes before puffing out his chest and running after the others. There was no time to get sad, he thought to himself, there’s no time.

***

The fire department wouldn’t let the kids go down with them, even when Richie yelled at them all and told them they wouldn’t find the hole in the ground without them. Once again, Stan had to hold him back as the firemen pushed Richie aside and descended into the sewers.

Ben and Mike were sitting in the back of one of the trucks, shock blankets wrapped around them to keep them out of the cold breeze that had descended over Derry. Stan stood with Richie near the entrance to the sewer, gripping the back of his shirt near his hips to keep him still, but that didn’t stop him biting his nails, tapping his feet or fidgeting with his glasses. Stan snuck a glance at Bill, who was the furthest from them all. He had been silent the entire time they waited for the fire department, and silent when he was asked questions.

Why were they down there? Did anyone else get hurt? Are they sure Eddie had actually fallen down the hole in the ground?

Stupid, pointless, petty questions. That was all Bill could think about. He just stayed silent and stared at the sewer. The sewer. He had lost Georgie down there, in that exact room. And now-

He shuddered and kicked a stone into the cold water of the Barrens. No. He wasn’t going to think that.

“Do you boys need to come to the truck?” A voice broke the deafening silence and Stan and Bill both looked up to see a woman standing at the edge of the Barrens near the trees, looking down at them with a worried frown.

Stan couldn’t speak, so he just shook his head, and both Bill and Richie noticed that.

“Go, Stan.” Richie choked out.

“But-”

“I’ll call you when they bring Eddie out.” Was all he got in reply and Stan took one last look at Bill, as if getting confirmation that it was okay to leave. Bill nodded, and Stan walked away. The lady held out her hand and helped Stan up the grassy bank to where Ben and Mike were sat. Ben shuffled to the side so Stan could sit in the middle of the two of them, and the both wrapped one side of the respective blankets around their friend. Stan licked his lips and shivered, the cold biting at his exposed skin, as he watched Bill walked over to Richie silently.

“Are you okay?” Bill asked, no stutter in his voice. Richie didn’t react. “Richie?”

“What’s taking them so long.” He spat, and Bill flinched, glancing down at the sewer tunnel. They hadn’t heard anything for nearly an hour and a half and Richie’s tics were just getting worse and worse.

“I-I-I don’t know.” Bill eventually said. “They’ll find him.”

“They fucking better. This is gonna cost our parents a fortune.” Richie then realised something and looked at his best friend. “How are you?”

Bill frowned.

“Georgie.” Richie said.

“Oh. F-fuh-fine. Thanks.”

Richie merely shrugged and looked back at the sewer. “No problem.”

“Rich..h-he isn’t gonna e-en-end up like G-g-g-shit.” Bill kicked a stone towards the sewer and Richie swallowed harshly.

“That’s not-“

“I know.” Bill said, tight lipped and his hands trembling. “I know.”

Silence fell over them for another twenty minutes before they saw the flashlights appear deep within in the sewer. Everyone held their breath, waiting to see a fireman carrying Eddie over his shoulder or maybe keeping him steady on his feet as he limped beside him.

They have to be careful of his arm, Richie thought as the lights got brighter. It might still be broken.

Bill was the first to realise the truth. When the firemen appeared with nothing in their arms, far away looks on their faces, the shake of their heads at the ambulance crew. And Bill felt his entire body grow numb.

One of the men approached Bill and Richie, taking off his helmet and gently crouching in front of them. Both boys went still as he sighed.

“Boys...maybe you should go to your friends?”

Bill’s lip quivered, and he noticed someone on the phone with, from what he could assume, the police department. This was real. This was happening.

“Where is he?” Richie snapped, catching everyone around him off guard. The silence and nervous glances put him on edge and he stared down every fireman with a harsh glare. “Huh? Where the fuck is he? Where the fuck is Eddie?!”

“Rich-“

“Shut up, Bill.”

“Kid, I’m so sorry, we couldn’t find anything…” Another fireman said, making his way towards him, but Richie stepped back, suddenly feeling sick.

“No...no, no...you...none of you looked hard enough!” Richie yelled, catching Ben, Mike and Stan’s attention from the ambulance. Hearing his distressed voice, Stan stood up, ignoring Ben tugging on his sleeve. “Look again! Go back!”

“R-ruh-“ Bill tried, but his voice died in his throat when police sirens appeared in the distance. Everyone went silent, except for the soft, nervous whimpers coming from Stan as reality slapped him across the face.

He’s dead.

“Stan?” Mike said gently, reaching out to his friend, but commotion in the Barrens below caught their attention. Richie had surged forward, straight towards the sewers, before a fireman looped an arm around his waist to hold him back.

“Let me go!” He cried, trying to claw his way out of the man’s grip with his blunt nails and shaking hands. “Fucking bastard, let me go! EDDIE!” He called out into the sewer tunnel relentlessly, hoping, praying, that he’d get an answer. He never did. Richie felt his stomach drop and he suddenly went limp in the fireman’s arms, catching him off guard. He slid to the ground and stared at the sewer, trying to keep his body upright. He didn’t want to collapse...but he could feel the fear creeping up on him. The fear of the truth.

Eddie. His best friend. He was...

The police sirens started to fade from his ears as he blocked them out, the thumping of his heart becoming the only sound he could hear. He could see Bill talking to him, no, yelling at him. Trying to snap Richie out of it, bring him back to reality. But it was no use. He was gone.

Ben was silently crying as he sat in the ambulance, Mike on his left and Stan on his right, both too in shock to talk, to move, to do anything. Bill was the only one with adrenaline in his veins, he always was. He was their leader, he had to keep his pack safe.

Richie felt his body go numb as the realisation suddenly crashed over him like a tidal wave. He let out a choked sob, alerting the other three boys attention behind him, and Bill watched in horror as Richie collapsed to his knees and screamed.

“He’s dead! He’s dead! He’s dead!” He howled over and over as Bill quickly wrapped his arms around him and pressed Richie’s face to his shoulder, kissing his hair, trying to calm him down. The police officers began to walk over but Mike stood up and begged them to leave them be, they needed their time. Stan whimpered and Ben wrapped his arm around him, patting his shoulder and biting back his own cries. Mike watched helplessly as Richie screamed and sobbed and shook on the ground, gripping Bill’s shirt for dear life.

He’s dead, was all Richie could think as his heart completely shattered inside his chest, Eddie’s dead.

And now, so was he.

***

Sonia Kaspbrak’s sobs were the only thing Richie could hear inside the church. And even in her darkest time, a time where her son had died, leaving her all alone, Richie wanted nothing more than to leap over the pews and slap a hand over her mouth so she would shut up.

It seemed selfish, when he really thought about it. She was a mother in mourning over the loss of her son, her only son. But all Richie could think about was getting the fuck out of this damn church and going into that sewer. Finding him.

He knew he wasn’t dead, he knew it. Eddie was a fighter, and even if everyone else thought he was bat shit crazy, he would believe that his best friend wouldn’t go down that easily without a fight.

It had been a tough few days, going home and crying himself to sleep and knowing he wouldn’t see Eddie ever again. And then he realised how dumb that was. How weak and pathetic. Eddie had survived much worse. So, there was no reason to believe he was really gone.

The others did. The Losers. That broke Richie’s heart. They were supposed to be a unit, a fucking team. How could they give up on one of their own so easily? He had been standing with Beverly outside the church, after hugging her for the longest time after seeing not seeing her for months, before telling her how he felt.

“Pain makes people think scary things.” She said gently, blowing smoke from her lips and looking at Richie with a pitying look. “Even you, tough guy.” Her smile made him feel queasy. “Even you.”

Seeing Beverly give him pity was the last straw. He had seen Stan glare at him, saying he was taking things too far this time, that they just need to move on. Give Eddie the send off he deserves, but even that sounded like utter shit. Eddie didn’t need a send off. He didn’t need a funeral. He needed someone to find him.

So that’s why when Sonia was called up to give the eulogy, Richie scoffed, stood up, and walked out. Everyone stared, and Bill stood up instantly. But nothing stopped Richie from flipping off the crowd as he headed towards the main doors of the church.

“Eddie wouldn’t want this sappy bullshit.” He spat before throwing open the doors and marching out into the sun. It didn’t take long for him to hear footsteps hurrying behind him, but Richie kept his face forward.

“Richie! Richard Tozier!” Stan shouted, panting as he ran after his best friend. “Stop walking away from me, shithead!”

Richie stopped eventually, anger coursing through his veins, before turning to face Stan. He was red faced and breathing heavily. “Go back inside, Staniel.” He ordered, but Stan glared at him.

“What the fuck was that back there?!” Stan exclaimed, putting his hands on his knees once he was close enough, trying to steady his breathing. “Have you lost your mind?!”

“I’m not staying for the funeral of someone who isn’t even fucking dead!” Richie spat, starting to turn around and continue forward, but he felt Stan shove his shoulder, causing him to stumble. “What the-”

“For once in your fucking life, you’re going to stop and think about what you’re doing!” Stan yelled in his face. Richie went quiet, the only sound around him was the leaves rustling in the trees, and the birds chirping in the distance. “Richie.” Stan said, slower this time. “I know you’re upset over this, we all are, but pretending like it hasn’t happened that’s...that’s not going to help you mourn.”

“We shouldn’t be mourning him!” Richie scoffed. “We should be going down there and finding him. He’s alive, Stan.”

“He fell down a god damn endless well!” Stan shouted, his anger bubbling again. “There is no way on this Earth that he’s alive, no way!” The wind blew around them even faster now, circling the two boys just as the other Losers sprinted out of the church and down the street to where they were standing. It blew the leaves and dirt and twigs, but none of them seemed to care.

“How can you give up on so easily?! I thought he was your friend!” Richie yelled. “You’re just scared!”

Stan’s hands twitched just as the clouds slowly turned from white, to grey and finally to a darker grey above him. Just like when a storm was approaching. No one seemed to notice the world around them growing darker. “A coward? Is that what you think of me?”

“Don’t make this about you, this is about Eddie! It’s about finding him and bringing him the fuck home!” Richie screamed just before the sound of thunder roared above them. The other Losers stopped only a few feet away and looked up, Ben gripping onto Beverly’s shoulder just as lightning cracked overhead. Stan and Richie looked up, seeing the sudden shift in the weather; both of their jaws dropped.

“What the fuck?” Richie breathed as thunder roared and lightning struck through the sky, making everyone shiver in fear. Bill looked at his friends and hurried forward, Mike reaching out to grab him and pull him back.

“Mike, they’re-”

“I know. Guys! Let’s go back inside!” Mike shouted, trying to get their attention without more of his friends rushing into potential danger. He wasn’t losing anyone else, not this time.

“Rich...maybe we should-” Stan tried to say before a bolt of lightning cracked through the air and struck the ground in between the two boys, sending the two of them flying backwards at an alarming speed. They both hit the ground, hard, and the thunder continued to roar for a few more seconds before instantly disappearing, the clouds rolling away into nothing until the sky was a beautiful, soft blue once more. The sun shone down over the group of friends as they cried out for Stan and Richie, running to their sides. Ben and Mike dropped down next to Stan, inspecting his body for marks from the lightning bolt, as Bev and Bill did the same to Richie.

“Stanley, are you okay?” Ben asked, his voice high pitched and scared, his fingers shaking as they grabbed Stan’s arms and helped him sit up once he seemed stable enough.

“I...I think so...Rich?” Stan called out to his best friend who was also sitting up, but he didn’t look back at him. Richie’s eyes were trained on the ground in front of him, and everyone else slowly followed it, until they noticed it too. A piece of paper crumpled up and lying on the ground, exactly where the bolt of lightning had struck. Silence fell over them. Richie grunted, adjusted his glasses that had slightly cracked from the impact, and moved to lean on his knees.

“Richie, slowly.” Bev said, and tried to help him, but he gently pushed her hand away, crawling to the burnt circle of road that even had smoke seeping from it. The bolt had it hard. It hit Stan and Richie, hard. They were all amazed Richie’s hair wasn’t standing on end or Stan’s skin hadn’t burnt. Richie grabbed the piece of paper and leaned back so he was sitting up right, his eyes tracing the words written on the page with an expression the others couldn’t read.

Stan gulped, loudly, and stood up on shaking legs before joining him in the road. “Rich?” He asked softly, trying to keep his voice steady.

“Wuh-wuh-what does it s-suh-say?” Bill choked out, staring at Richie closely. The others then heard a sound they weren’t expecting, something that made them all frown. Richie laughed. He felt his heart hammer in his chest as he reread the words over and over in his head, before setting the paper into Stan’s waiting hand and cackling into the air. Bev, Ben, Mike and Bill hurried over, crowding around Stan and reading the words as Richie jumped to his feet and fist pumped, shouting and hollering in triumph.

“Holy shit.” Bev breathed, reading everyone else’s thoughts.

I’m alive. Go to the well. Hawkins, Indiana, 1994.

Come find me. 

\- Eddie.

“I told you! I told all you motherfuckers!” Richie yelled as the sun shone down onto his face and he shouted in happiness. “HE’S ALIVE! EDDIE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been 5 months, but I'm back bitches


End file.
